County honors Navajo Code Talkers with memorial

Statue will be unveiled during ceremony on Friday

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A covered statue sits in front of the San Juan County Administration Building on Monday in Aztec. The memorial statue honoring the Navajo Code Talkers will be unveiled during a ceremony on Friday.(Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)Buy Photo

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Several other memorials already have been placed at the entrance to the administration building.

Navajo leaders and state lawmakers have been invited to Friday's ceremony.

FARMINGTON — San Juan County will honor the contribution and service of Navajo Code Talkers with a monument that has been placed outside the entrance to the San Juan County Administration Building in Aztec.

The memorial will be unveiled during a dedication ceremony at 11 a.m. Friday at 100 S. Oliver Drive.

County Commissioner Wallace Charley said the entrance area to the county offices already is the site of several memorials, including lists of names of local members of the military who died in the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan conflict. He said the new memorial is one way the county can honor the code talkers.

County Executive Officer Kim Carpenter said the stone memorial includes inscriptions of the code used by the Navajo code talkers.